In a healthcare landscape often clouded by misinformation, Dr. Gamilah Pierre is a beacon of clarity and empowerment. Known as “The Fibroid Fixer,” she is a board-certified OBGYN and minimally invasive surgeon on a mission to transform how women understand and treat fibroids. By blending advanced robotic surgery with a dedication to patient education, Dr. Pierre is dismantling the period rituals and shame that have silenced women for generations. In this exclusive interview, we dive into her journey from aspiring dentist to surgical innovator, exploring how she uses social media to fight medical disinformation and why she believes that when women know their bodies, they make better decisions. Get ready to meet the physician literally rewriting the rules of modern medicine.
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The Fibroid Fixer: Empowering Women Through Education and Precision Surgery With Dr. Gamilah Pierre
Introduction
Our guest is a Board-Certified OBGYN, Minimally Invasive Surgeon, Speaker, and Founder who is literally rewriting what it means to be a physician in 2026. She chairs not one, but two hospital committees, the Ethics Committee and the Robotic Surgery Committee which already tells you everything about the leader she is.
She’s also the Founder of the Know You Studio and the voice behind the Fibroid Fixer, where she’s turning complex medical information into clear, actionable insight that women can actually use. Her whole mission? When women understand their bodies, they make better decisions.
Dr. Gamilah Pierre, welcome to the show. We have been looking forward to this one.
Thank you for having me. It’s great to see you, Angela. Nice to meet you, Sylvia.
Our little backstory is Gamilah and I trained in residency together. I knew she would be as fabulous as she is, so I’m very proud.
Dr. Pierre, again, welcome to the show. You are a Surgeon, a Founder, a Speaker, let’s take us way back. When did you know you wanted to become a doctor?
I actually thought about this question, and I cannot remember a time where I didn’t want to be in healthcare. However, I wanted to be a dentist, believe it or not. I always wanted to be a dentist. I’m the weirdo kid who, instead of playing dolls and teacher, I would play dentist.
Were you pulling out teeth?
I had all kinds of little tools, probably because I went to the dentist a lot. I always assumed I would be a dentist, and it was when I was preparing for the DATs that reality hit me, that Perceptual Ability Test was not my lane.
Explain that.
If you think about it, dentists do everything backwards with a mirror. In preparation for that, we have our MCAT, they have the DAT, it’s pretty similar, but they have this whole separate component called the Perceptual Ability Test. It’s all spatial visualization. How does the diagram look or they’ll have a cube that’s split in a puzzle and you have to figure out what it looks like on the other side.
You’re a surgeon, and surgeons, it’s not the same. Okay, forgive the internist in the conversation. All right, I’m just playing. I’ve got to see everything.
Yeah. I was doing those puzzles because they literally do everything with a mirror, so everything they do is backward. I said, “This is too hard. I’m not doing this, I think medical school would be easier than these puzzles.”
That is hilarious.
Literally, I was always wanting to be a dentist right up until the rubber meets the road and they say, “Well, you have to do these quizzes and puzzles.” I was like, “Not for me.”
Was there anyone in your path that was in medicine or anyone that influenced you at that point or before?
My uncle rest well was a respiratory therapist at Hermann Life Flight.
That’s in Houston.
I was a little bit sickly. I had asthma, my uncle had asthma, so I grew up in hospital ers. I think because my uncle would bring me these coloring books on the lungs and all kinds of strange things. No one was a doctor, but I think that really influenced me. My mother worked in healthcare administration even when I was a kid, and I always had to go to work with her in the summer. I was like, “This is boring.” I was always around a healthcare institution even though nobody was actually a doctor. That’s why I said I really don’t remember a time where I didn’t assume I would do something in healthcare, but it just turned out a little bit differently than I expected. I never thought I would do OBGYN.
Identifying The Need For Healthcare Education And Correcting Misinformation
Yeah, for a lot of us, it comes down to not knowing until you know. You talk about transforming women and their experience in healthcare, and that’s a bold word, “transform.” Was there a specific patient encounter, a moment in a room that made you realize the system wasn’t just imperfect but actually needed a reckoning?
No. I think what it was was one too many patients coming in. I do a lot of second opinions. One too many persons said to me, “Wow, you made that really clear. Nobody ever explained that to me before.” I thought, “Well, what do you mean? Isn’t everybody going over all this information?” Literally, people were saying, “You know, nobody’s ever just sat down and explained this is what a fibroid is, this is what your uterus is.” I thought, “It shouldn’t be that complicated,” but apparently, we’ve been missing that. We haven’t been giving patients that.
I think what happened is because we in healthcare weren’t giving people what they needed, they started to seek it out anyway. I ended up in social media because I realized they were seeking it out among people who weren’t qualified to give them the information. I said, “Well, heck, it needs to be coming from us.” I started seeing people just talking about things. People would come in with random, weird, bogus things. I’m like, “Where are you getting that?” I realized that there was a lot of information out there, but a lot of it was bad information.
When healthcare failed to meet people’s needs, they sought answers elsewhere. I turned to social media because too many were getting information from unqualified sources. Share on XThere is a lot of disinformation or misinformation.
I would argue to say that there are many of us that do like to educate, but I had an experience with a patient where her eyes were like deer in the headlights it was like too much information. I think by and large I agree with you, but because of the constrictions we have in medicine the time to adequately educate somebody about their anatomy and fibroids in a well-woman exam is just not enough time. Sometimes you have to explain that, “This is a problem, you need to come back and we’ll have a full conversation,” but I think now with social media, it’s in the forefront. I love that you are now in social media and educating. I know you didn’t think that was your forte, but I’ve watched your videos, they’re excellent and great educational tools. We appreciate you.
By the way, I’ve never seen my videos, so I hope they’re okay. I don’t watch them.
I would highly recommend that you watch your own stuff. It’s fantastic.
We’re so very self-critical.
What you don’t know can’t hurt you, Dr. Pierre, but we’re going to leave that alone. Let’s stick to the social media for just a moment. As a physician, you’re blending medicine, media, and your own personal mission. Sometimes we think about that as a risk to our credibility or our standing with our patients. How do you navigate that tension?
That is 100% a great question for me because I thought it was hokey. I’m not going to be a cheesy “influencer,” that’s weird, but it was patients who said, “Oh well, I wish my sister could hear you,” or “I wish my friend could hear you.” I was like, “They can see me.” They’re like, “They live in Alaska.” I started thinking maybe I could do a fibroid channel, and I can just talk about fibroids. I really enjoy that, so I thought that would be a lot of fun. That’s how it started.
My hat is off to you guys. I tried to do a YoTtube and Riverside and do all that and it was really hard. Someone who I work with, she said, “Well, I can help you with your social media.” She saw the vision that I had more than I saw it for myself and she’s really encouraged me. I still refuse TikTok. I was like, “There is no way I’m doing tiktok.”
Can you tell us why no TikTok?
Yeah, because I’m old. For me, tiktok was people dancing. One of my patients came and I was all excited, “I started an Instagram and I have a YouTube channel,” she said, “Are you on TikTok?” I said, “Oh no.” She said, “Well, you need to get on TikTok.” I said, “I’m not doing that.” She said, “You think it’s kids dancing.” I said, “Yes, I do.” She said, “It’s not, and that’s where I go to get information. You need to go.” I was like, “Really?” I left that room and I texted my social media manager. I was like, “Fine, set up the TikTok page.” She was like, “Yay.” That’s really how I jumped onto TikTok. People are educating themselves there.
Since we’re on the topic of your platform, the title is the Fibroid Fixer, which I love. It’s direct, it’s confident, and it removes the shame of talking about bleeding and tumors. “The Fixer” means there’s actually something that can be done. How did you land on fibroids in general as your platform? What do most women still not know about them that they absolutely should?
Every woman in my family lost their uterus by the time they were 40, pretty much. Except me. I’m the only one who kept their uterus. They all lost them due to fibroids. Fibroids have been something I’ve known about even before I was a doctor. I call them “period rituals” you know, you’ve got to prepare to go to sleep because of all this bleeding. It’s humiliating.
When I finally had patients who were coming in and I could complete their “period ritual” for them, they were like, “Oh my God.” Like I could say, “You sleep on towels,” or “You have to know where the bathrooms are,” they’re like, “You understand what I’m talking about,” because people have been ignoring these patients, which I found strange.
At the same time, I really got into robotic surgery and I realized that we can really do some nice cases. Some of these really large uteruses, we’re able to do them robotically. We’re able to get these people back to work soon with minimal complications. I’ve been really grateful that because of robotic surgery, I will take on my Jehovah’s Witnesses where a lot of doctors won’t operate on them because of the risk of blood loss. I’m like, “With robotic surgery, we lose very little blood.”
Explaining Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery And Its Advantages
Dr. Pierre, I’m going to interrupt you for a moment. Can you explain to our audience what minimally invasive surgery is? When you say robotics, does that mean you’re in the room in the OR? Does it mean you’re in the gallery? Help explain what that is.
Minimally invasive surgery is anything where we don’t make a large incision on your belly. It could be vaginal surgery, laparoscopy, and then robotics. Robotics specifically uses very small incisions about two centimeters or a centimeter and a half, and then we have an actual robot. The cool thing about the robot is that it’s a wristed instrument. My whole wrist will work. When we do laparoscopy, which has been around for many years, it’s more like operating without the use of your wrist. Robotics the actual wrist moves more than my wrist.
Why is that better?
You can manipulate. You’re operating like this, first of all
When you say, “Like this,” for our readers, your arms are extended, you cannot flex or extend your wrist.
Think of like chopsticks and you’re operating with your arms straight. For a surgeon, it’s very fatiguing. Your neck is tired, you’re hunched up. Robotic surgery now allows us to use the natural motions of our hands and our wrists. In fact, it’s even better than our actual wrist. Also, the visualization of the camera is amazing. I can move that camera as close as I need to, which I can’t do to your uterus if we’re just doing open surgery.
It’s like when I get a photo and then I tap it and then I just make it bigger so I can actually see the writing.
Yes, exactly. It allows us to be more precise. It allows us to also take down scar tissue, because a lot of these fibroid patients have had previous surgery. With robotic technology, we can get so close to that scar tissue that we take it away but don’t harm anything important like your intestine.
Why remove scar tissue? Does that make me have less pain?
Sometimes we remove the scar tissue because of pain, but sometimes it’s so we can complete the surgery. If the scar tissue is in the way, I can’t get to the uterus.
Also, if the scar tissue is scarred to an adjacent organ like the bowel or bladder, you may remove it so that you’re releasing other organs from the operative field you’re working in.
We just went down the rabbit hole, but I think that was important to help explain.
Let me say one thing because my patients ask me this all the time. “Are you in the room with me?” Yes. People ask that all the time. I will tell you, there’s some crazy technology right now. Our hospital has six robots, which is a lot for a community hospital. This robot is so cool, it allows me to be doing my surgery and my colleague can be looking at it from Atlanta and saying, “What do you think about this?” Soon, the technology will be there that the surgeon will not be in the room with the patient. That technology will be here within ten years, I guarantee it.
Soon, the technology will allow surgeons to operate without being in the same room as the patient. Share on XThat’s definitely for another episode. Tell us about The Know You Studio. What was the birth of that idea? What gap are you filling?
So, when I read your question about that, I said, “How am I going to explain this?” because to be honest, I came up with a really succinct way. The Know You Studio is really a letter of encouragement to myself. I had to put it into terms because I came up with “The Fibroid Fixer” that’s really fun, but when I started it, I said, “Why am I doing this? There are people doing this. I shouldn’t be doing this. Nobody wants to hear from me.”
Why not you?
I just couldn’t figure out, “Why me?” My social media manager she’s one of those Millennials and she’s so smart she was like, “Why not you?” I said, “That’s not good enough.” One day I was walking down the street and I was very discouraged about the whole Fibroid Fixer. I was like, “This is silly, why am I doing this?” Later that day, I went to sleep and I clearly heard God say, “Know you.” I was like, “What?” It started to resonate with me that I need to just, as they say, do you. I was trying to figure out what that meant.
It’s funny because it really didn’t have anything to do with the patients originally, it really became me trying to encourage myself saying it’s okay to do something that’s different and scary. I said, “How can I make fibroids bigger because we can’t just talk about fibroids every day for the next like 95 years?” I realized that I may not be the only person who’s just trying to figure out, “How do I get to know me?” That means know my body. It also means know my mind. It also means being comfortable with the fact that maybe I’m not the most this or the most that, but I may still have a voice. I sum it up to say it’s a letter of encouragement to myself, but I still think it has a bigger umbrella than that. It’s a work in progress.
As we all are.
Love the vision, love the way that it was revealed to you, and look forward to the future of that. Many of us need to appreciate who we are just as we are but also know ourselves in all forms. I love that for you. You’re blending medicine, media, and mission. You expressed some of what I’ve felt as well. A lot of physicians will say that can risk our credibility. Our identity is being a physician in the office, in the operating room and that’s it. How do you navigate this internal tension between being this trusted clinician and now stepping into this role as a founder and speaker?
That was very important to me. I didn’t want to lose credibility. Even though I don’t watch the posts, it’s very important to me what she films or what I put out. I’m meticulous “Is there a patient identifier?” I’m meticulous about that. I’m meticulous about asking patients for their consent. “Can I use this for public education?” I respect the fact that first and foremost, I am their doctor. I want them to be proud that I’m their doctor, not like, “What is that crazy lady over there talking about?” I think it’s just being mindful of what your ultimate goals are and who you’re ultimately trying to serve. When I think of it that way, then it’s pretty straightforward.
I was trying to do something like take a probiotic. They were like, “You can sell this to people.” I was like, “I think it’s a good probiotic, but I feel funny about that. I’m not going to do it.” If it comes up organically and people ask me, fine, but I just push it. I think you just have to do what is true to yourself and feeling comfortable and making sure you are knowing who you are, being true to the people that you are with everyday, not just people that see you doing some TikToks here and there.
Advice On Finding A Trusted Clinician And Asking Key Questions
If there’s a woman right now who has felt dismissed or told her pain wasn’t real, what would you say to her as far as how to find the best physician?
I think the really great thing about social media is that people are seeing all the different ideas out there. I think to your point, it’s less concerning. There are more trusted clinicians out there now, so it’s not as weird for people. I think if you just get a little basic education, it’s just like, “I know where my uterus is.” You keep seeking doctors. There will be a doctor who’s right for you. Yes, there are a lot who are just saying crazy things to people. Take your notes, I always tell people you go to the doctor take a notebook or your phone or whatever you do. A notebook I think is better because I think people do better when they write things.
Listen to how the doctor’s talking to you. Ask them the question, “How can I learn about this more?” because our time is short. It’s not fifteen minutes, we know that. We might have seven minutes to talk to somebody. As a patient, you should be asking the doctor, “Where can I learn more about this? You’ve given me some highlights and we’re going to have a follow-up appointment. Where do you trust me to go?”
I think that as clinicians, we have to acknowledge people are doing Google searches. When you show me what you Googled, then I can say, “Don’t look at that one, go to that one.” if we just acknowledge that, then we can guide our patients to be in the space where they belong and not in the space of the disinformation that’s out there.
Very good. Love that advice and I would add that when you’re looking for a provider, looking for someone that gives you that feeling of autonomy where it should be somebody that’s educating you and giving you options in typically more than one. There are obviously circumstances where this is really the best route for you, but at least in circumstances like fibroids, there may be options. I think that’s important.
People tend to respond better even if at the end of all of that conversation they may ask, “What would you do?” Then it’s at least they’ve been informed about all of the options, which I know that’s what you do. Yeah, so love that, what you’re doing for women and all the education. If there was one question that every woman should be asking her OBGYN that probably most women never think to ask, what do you think that would be?
I really think it’s, “Where do I go to get more information?” because we just don’t have time to talk to patients, we just don’t have that much time. They’re going to look for it. I think if patients would ask their doctor, “Who do you trust? What sources do you trust?” then you know that even though I can’t fill in all the gaps, at least I’m sending them somewhere that’s reasonable. That’s when they come back to me, we can have a real conversation.
The next question to ask is, “What are my options?” and in fibroids, that’s huge because people are told either live with it or get a hysterectomy. That’s not true. The last thing is, “Okay, I hear all my options, what if I just choose to do nothing about this?” whatever your particular medical problem is. They might say, “Well your life will be fine,” or “Your life will be in great harm,” but I think if you go with those three things, then you leave informed and then you’re able to make the decision that makes sense for you.
Self-Care Routine And The Challenge Of Setting Non-Negotiable Boundaries
You certainly pour into all of your patients early. Can you tell us, what is your self-care routine and how do you stay well so that you can do all of your other endeavors?
I don’t. I’ll be honest.
Be mindful of your ultimate goals and who you’re trying to serve. Share on XWe like truthfulness. If you were going to do you endeavor to do something, what is it?
I think honestly, that’s a work in progress. The things that I do every day, I try to make sure I start every day with a prayer because I can’t keep moving. Sometimes it’s just laying in the bed like, “Okay, let’s get going.” The best habit that I have is I’m a water drinker, I don’t drink any other drink. Now, I wish I could tell you I ate well. I don’t. I wish I could tell you I exercised every day, I don’t. I honestly think self-care is this wonderful idea, but I also recognize that it’s a challenge for me to do self-care. I love to travel, so any chance I get to go somewhere, I am going. Just pretty much no place that I won’t go at least once.
Is that not a form of self-care for you, though, your travel?
It is, that is my self-care. I just can’t do it as often as I’d like, but it is it gives me great joy and entertainment. Seeing the world is just it’s amazing to me. Seeing how the world is, how other people live, how other people view other people, ideas.
Is there a favorite place that you’ve been to so far?
I knew you were going to ask me that. There are so many places that I just love. I love Cape Town, I love Japan, I love Vietnam. These places, they’re so different, meeting different people. I don’t have a favorite place. I really, truly get something out of each place. There are some places I would not go back. I won’t mention those there are some places, you couldn’t pay me to go back. Most places, given the time and money no constraints, I can get something out of every place.
That means you’ve traveled enough that you know your favorites and where you’ve so that’s impressive. In this self-care space and arena, are there any non-negotiables you’ve built into your life to protect your peace?
I haven’t. I think it’s awesome that you’re asking that question because this is how Know You Studio is and I’m like, “Why haven’t I done that? I’m old enough to have done that.” That’s why I say it’s still a work in progress. I’ll give you an example. I just came off of literally twelve days of call. It was not an easy call. People were like, “Why did you do that?” and I said, “Well this one couldn’t work and that one couldn’t work,” and even my partner was like, “Why does it have to be you?” At the end I was like I’m still in that mode of somebody’s got to do it.
It does not have to be you. The system sometimes has to fail in order for then to make the appropriate allowances and to do what’s necessary to take care of the patients but then also the people, the physicians that provide the care. When we always step up to do something to fill that gap, then no one has a real sense of the consequence of when Dr. Pierre or Dr. Walker or Dr. Morris don’t show up. I too, have been guilty of that, “No one else is doing it, I guess it’ll be me.” Not anymore.
I’m working on that.
The Value Of A Trusted Voice In Social Media And Final Endorsement
We’ll put that in your No You Studio for sure because you don’t get that time back. I love your honesty. You are exactly the person I knew you to be. I don’t know, it’s over 25 years ago. We cannot wait to see what is going to blow up on TikTok. Again, I have been following your Instagram. I love the colleagues that are out there just putting out accurate, informative information because we’re living in a social media world. Whether we think it’s hokey or not, it is real. We have a lot of our patients that are coming in because of what they’re seeing. To have a trusted voice is really valuable. Thank you for what you’re doing.
I have to say the whole conversation just moved me because I know you personally but because of what you’re doing in women’s lives. You’re proof that when a woman knows her worth and her purpose, there’s no ceiling to what you can do. We thank you for working every single day in the operating room still, which is a blessing, particularly for women with fibroids. You’re working in your studio knowing yourself and helping other women know themselves and on every stage that you stand on and I can’t wait to be in the audience for one of those, so we appreciate you.
Thank you, guys, for your endeavor. This is amazing. I’m so proud of you. I’m so proud of Angela. It’s fun. When I saw you a couple of years ago, I was like, “What’s Angela doing? You have to go to her show and see the just all that she’s doing so it’s cool.
For Sylvia and I, it’s everything. It’s therapy, it’s motivation, it’s inspiration, it’s a blast, so it’s just part of protecting my peace is being able to do the show, so thank you.
We learn something from every guest. It’s just fantastic and we thank you. Dr. Pierre, where can people find you on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook?
The Fibroid Fixer. The Fibroid Fixer in all things. I’m not on Facebook, actually, but maybe I’ll get encouraged. On Instagram and then the YouTube channel is Know You Studio, but Instagram and TikTok, it’s The Fibroid Fixer. Short and sweet.
Please go tap, follow, and share this episode with every woman in your life who needs to hear it.
Thank you. Thank you so much. It was so cool. I’m glad I could be part of this. Thank you for inviting me.
To everyone else out there, if you love this episode, and how could you not, please subscribe, leave us a review. You can also listen to all of our episodes on YouTube. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Until then, may you be well.
May you be well.
Thank you so much.
Important Links
- Know You Studio on YouTube
- Fibroid Fixer
- Dr. Gamilah Pierre on Instagram
- The Fibroid Fixer on TikTok
- Boss Leap on YouTube
About Dr. Gamilah Pierre
Dr. Gamilah Pierre is a board-certified OB/GYN, minimally invasive surgeon, and speaker focused on transforming how women experience healthcare. She serves as Chair of the Ethics Committee and Chair of the Robotic Surgery Committee at her hospital, where she leads initiatives in surgical innovation, physician accountability, and patient-centered care. As the founder of The Know You Studio, and the voice behind The Fibroid Fixer, Dr. Pierre brings medicine, media, and mission together—translating complex health topics into clear, actionable insight. Through her speaking and platforms, she challenges audiences to rethink the patient experience and embrace a powerful truth: when women understand their bodies, they make different—and better—decisions about their health.